10 things you need to know in markets today

It’s PMI day in Europe.Markets will get a snapshot of what’s going on across the continent with data from all of the Eurozone’s biggest economies released on Tuesday morning. Manufacturing PMIs for the UK will also be announced.

Physical currency will become extinct pretty soon. According to global intelligence firm Stratfor, the decline in the number of cash transactions is set to intensify, and soon, no one will be using cash. Stratfor’s report cites “the unstoppable progress of technology” as a reason that cashless transactions will become “ever more prevalent in the global economy.”

Crude oil is on the rise on Tuesday. In Asian trading the price of both major oil benchmarks has jumped, with West Texas Intermediate leading the gains. Just after 6:30 a.m. GMT (1:30 a.m. ET) WTI is up 1.01% to $34.09 per barrel. Brent has gained 0.77%, trading at $36.85 per barrel.

Asian shares popped during trading today. At the close, all of Asia’s biggest share indexes were in positive territory, with the Dow Jones Shanghai index leading gains, up by 2.1%. There were also solid gains for the CSI 300 in China, up by 1.8%, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, up 0.9%.